Speakers to present Americans and the Nazi Threat: What Did Floridians know?

By Marvin Glassman

Special Correspondent|

Nov 21, 2017 | 4:02 PM

JoAnna Wasserman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is participating in the panel discussion Americans and the Nazi Threat: What Did Floridians Know? (COURTESY)

Three speakers will discuss Americans and the Nazi Threat: What Did Floridians Know? on Nov. 28 at 8 p.m. at Beth Torah Benny Rok Campus, 20350 N.E. 26th Ave. in North Miami Beach and on Nov. 29 at B'nai Torah Congregation, 6261 S.W. 18th St. in Boca Raton.

Participating in the three member panel discussion are Professor Paul George, resident historian, HistoryMiami Museum, Professor Gary Mormino, Frank E. Duckwall emeritus professor of History at University of South Florida in St. Petersburg and JoAnna Wasserman, education initiatives manager at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

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The two South Florida panel discussions will be one of many community programs taking place across the country by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018.

"The museum is hosting community programs in selected cities nationwide to provide a deeper look at local reactions to Nazi persecution," said Wasserman.

"Each program will feature Museum and local historians examining national events and regional responses through the Museum's collections and newspaper research tool, 'History Unfolded'."

"Programs like these will educate the country about this history and dispel the myth that Americans were uninformed about or indifferent to the threats posed by Nazism," said Wasserman.

"What will be presented will be evidence citing how local press outlets in Florida reported on the Nazi atrocities and how communities across Florida responded," said Mormino.

The two professors and Wasserman will explore artifacts, newspaper headlines and reactions of Floridians in the 1930s and 40s.

Among the findings will be an examination of the presence of military personnel through intelligence and radar units on the South Florida coast.

"The program will also highlight individuals' responses, including Miami Beach's first Jewish mayor (Mitchell Wolfson) who left his businesses and political commitments to fight the Nazis," said Wasserman.

The panel discussions will also promote the opening in 2018 of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum exhibit titled "Americans And The Nazi Threat" in Washington, D.C.

"This new exhibition will explore American society in the 1920s-40s, including the fears, motives and pressures that shaped Americans' responses to Nazism, the war and to the persecution of Jews," said Wasserman.